Non fault car accident - same insurance company

MimiClaudette

I had someone crash into me a couple of weeks ago and surprise, surprise she's not admitting liability! She also is with the same insurance company as me and they seem to not want to do much about it! They just keep saying that until someone admits liability then there's nothing they can do.

I haven't actually made a claim yet, as just managed to get to the garage to get an estimate on the work which is around £250-£300. My excess is £175. I'm currently pregnant and really can't afford to be shelling out cash like that when I'm trying to save for my maternity leave, but not sure whether it's worth claiming?

I have full Legal cover which will help to recover the costs, but I'm not sure if my premium will go up quite a bit next year even though I have protected no claims.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

alfie1950

Even though you have protected no claims your premium will be loaded because you are statistically considered to be a higher risk even if the other party admits fault.
So to look at the bigger picture , unless the third party admits liability it will probably go 50/50.
Do you have any dashcam footage , do you have any independant witnesses?
Personally , for the sake of £300-£175=£125 I would not claim against my own policy.
At £300 the damage must be fairly slight.

MimiClaudette

Thabks for your response. Yes the damage is fairly minor, but for me it's the fact she mentioned that it was her 3rd crash in 3 weeks and that she always used the lane she did. I just don't want her to get away with it. Plus the cost of having thr repair done is going to eat into my savings as since she won't admit liability, I will end up having to pay my excess!

I don't have any dashcam footage or witnesses to speak of as noone stopped and there was only my husband in the car. I have photos of the scene, but that's about it.

My car is still drivable, but it just looks terrible having a ding above the drivers side front wheel arch. Just gutted cos I've never been in this situation before. I mean, who turns left in the right hand lane of a roundabout!

Mrs_pbradley936

MimiClaudette wrote: »

Thabks for your response. Yes the damage is fairly minor, but for me it's the fact she mentioned that it was her 3rd crash in 3 weeks and that she always used the lane she did. I just don't want her to get away with it. Plus the cost of having thr repair done is going to eat into my savings as since she won't admit liability, I will end up having to pay my excess!

I don't have any dashcam footage or witnesses to speak of as noone stopped and there was only my husband in the car. I have photos of the scene, but that's about it.

My car is still drivable, but it just looks terrible having a ding above the drivers side front wheel arch. Just gutted cos I've never been in this situation before. I mean, who turns left in the right hand lane of a roundabout!

Principles and right fighting can be very expensive! Just let it go would be the best advice. The stress and upset are not worth it and neither is the amount you might get.

vacheron

MimiClaudette wrote: »

............
My car is still drivable, but it just looks terrible having a ding above the drivers side front wheel arch. Just gutted cos I've never been in this situation before. I mean, who turns left in the right hand lane of a roundabout!

The answer is quite a lot of people "if" the road markings and the roundabout exit allow it.

First thing I would be doing is looking on google earth and street view to see if there are any road markings leading up to where the accident happened. If her lane has markings showing ahead only arrows then you could have good evidence, if both show left arrows it will depend on who may have intruded into into who's lane.

If the first exit is a single lane then she probably shouldn't have been turning left from the right lane, and that, along with any photos at the scene and evidence of the damage on your car should help to build a picture of the events leading up to the accident.

MimiClaudette

Her lane (right) was ahead only and I was going straight ahead in the left lane (left and ahead). I have photos of the road markings which the insurance company have and I also took some screen shots from Google maps to show the approach. I actually had a feeling she was going to do something as she kept edging forward and almost blocked my view, when there was no need to.

I believe that she knew she was in the wrong lane and tried to beat me round, as we entered the roundabout at the same time and her car collided with the front of mine and she didn't even stop until a few car spaces up the road.

She told my husband that she uses that lane all the time to take the first exit :eek: absolutely horrific if she drives like that all the time... Plus I wasn't surprised when she said that was her 3rd accident in 3 weeks!

eddddy

MimiClaudette wrote: »

I just don't want her to get away with it.

One approach is to make a claim for your losses through the small claims court.

It looks like the type of info you'd need to provide is:

Appendix A: INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION THE COURT USUALLY NEEDS IN PARTICULAR TYPES OF CASE ROAD ACCIDENT CASES (where the information or documentation is available)

• witness statements (including statements from the parties themselves);
• invoices and estimates for repairs;
• agreements and invoices for any car hire costs;
• the Police accident report;
• sketch plan which should wherever possible be agreed;
• photographs of the scene of the accident and of the damage.

link: https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27/pd_part27

The court would decide on the 'balance of probabilities' whether the other driver was to blame.

The claim process is described here: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

MimiClaudette

Thanks for all your advice. I'm thinking I'm just going to have to cut my losses and not make a claim. My husband might be able to make the best of the damage for now until we have some spare cash to sort it out. Absolutely gutted